NSW records 105 new cases: Sydney daily bus services slashed to Sunday schedules
Two NSW police force employees have tested postive to Covid-19. It comes as public transport services have been whittled to a Sunday schedule with people warned not to leave their house.
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Two NSW police force employees have tested positive to Covid-19.
A police officer and a civilian worker attached to the State Crime Commission at Parramatta are isolating at home after returning positive results.
A police spokesperson said all close and casual contacts of the two employees are being notified.
“All measures are being taken to ensure all strict health and work safety guidelines are being followed,” the spokesperson said.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT RUN TO SUNDAY SCHEDULE
Public transport services in Greater Sydney will run to a Sunday schedule for the next two weeks with people told to drive if they need to leave the house.
The decision to reduce services was made both to discourage public transport use, and because passenger numbers are down across the network.
It came as NSW recorded 105 new Covid-19 community transmissions and one death.
“Do not use public transport, if you have a choice. Use your car, or more importantly, stay at home,” Transport for NSW Chief Operations Officer Howard Collins said.
“By reducing those services it does certainly give people the message that clearly, it‘s important to stay at home.”
However, keeping public transport running at a reduced schedule will give essential workers — or people without a car — the ability to travel if needed.
Sydney Trains and State Transport Authority workers will not lose any money due to the reduced schedule. Private operators will also be paid as if they were running to the usual weekday roster.
“We’d ask them to ensure that their employees are kept paid and … do not lose out by this change that we have implemented,” Mr Collins said.
FEDS SAY AUSSIES UNDER-40 TO GET PFIZER IN SEPTEMBER
Australians aged 40 and under will be able to start booking a Pfizer vaccine in September or early October, with the federal government looking to bring the opportunity forward if supply is available.
The news came as NSW recorded its fourth death during the Delta outbreak and another 105 cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Saturday night.
As the country finally ticked over 10 million doses delivered and 13.59 per cent of Australians fully vaccinated since the start of the jab rollout in late February, Health Minister Greg Hunt confirmed younger Australians would be able to book in an appointment in about two months.
He said Covid-19 taskforce leader Lieutenant General John Frewen was working with states to establish when people under 40 who are not in a priority workforce, Indigenous or have an underlying health condition, can book a Pfizer vaccine appointment.
“(Lt Gen Frewen) has indicated that September, early October is likely, but if we can bring that forward, we will,” Mr Hunt said.
Mr Hunt said over the next week Australia was expecting about a million doses of Pfizer, the largest weekly shipment so far in the rollout.
“That will first be bench tested, distributed and released and then that will be available,” he said.
“So, what we’ll see is an increase in vaccinations.”
Mr Hunt said there was still a “significant number” of people aged 40 to 59, who are currently eligible for Pfizer, who were yet to receive a vaccine.
About 32 per cent of people aged 40 to 49 and about 44 per cent of people aged 50 to 59 have received a first dose of Covid-19 vaccine so far.
FOURTH DEATH IN DELTA OUTBREAK RECORDED WITH 105 NEW CASES
A woman in her 90s who tested positive to Covid-19 has died, with four deaths now recorded during Sydney’s Delta outbreak.
NSW recorded 105 cases of community transmission, with 27 of those cases active in the community while infectious.
The cases came from nearly 67,000 tests.
The number of cases in the community while infectious is expected to remain stable for the next few days, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.
“I’m convinced that working together we will start to see those numbers nudge,” she said.
“We are throwing everything at this.”
The woman who in her 90s who has died was from southeastern Sydney.
TIMELINE FOR RESUMING CONSTRUCTION WORK
A level of construction will be able to resume after July 30, Premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Sunday.
That’s despite the Premier offering no clarity on whether the lockdown will lift at the end of the month.
Even if case numbers prevent the lifting of the lockdown, certain settings could be eased.
The government is “looking at all the opportunities we can to ease the burden on the community,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“There may be settings we can adjust, notwithstanding where we’re up to.
“If we see numbers turning and we think it’s safe to resume some level of activity, we’ll do that,” she said.
However, the construction industry has been given some certainty about what will happen in August.
“We’ve already given a commitment to undertake a level of the construction industry coming back after July 30,” the Premier said.
TESTING RATES REACHING THEIR LIMIT
Massive Covid-19 testing rates are stretching NSW Health’s capacity to process swabs.
There were 66,671 tests reported on Sunday, after a daily record of 81,970 on Saturday. Both figures represent tests processed in the 24 hours to 8pm the previous day.
Chief health officer Kerry Chant said there is a “capacity” for how many tests can be processed.
“Although we can do a little bit more, it’s really reaching close to that threshold,” she said.
The remarks on Sunday mark the first time since the start of the pandemic that Dr Chant has acknowledged that pathology units are being strained by the volume of daily tests.
Dr Chant made the comments in a bid to explain why people going into the Fairfield local government area are not subjected to regular surveillance tests.
Fairfield residents leaving the area for work need to get a test every three days, but people coming into the area from other LGAs do not.
“We haven’t got infinite numbers of tests and capacity,” Dr Chant said.
The surveillance tests are not being given priority because they yield a “lower probability” of a positive result, Dr Chant said.
Health authorities have also acknowledged a “slippage in turnaround times” for test results.
Despite aiming to return test results in 24 hours, some test results have been “exceeding” that time frame, Dr Chant said.
Private pathology providers are working with NSW Health in a bid to get test results back promptly.
NSW Health on Saturday said “large volumes of Covid-19 tests” meant results may take up to 72 hours.
AUTHORISED WORKERS LIST BROADENED
NSW Health has broadened the list of “authorised workers” who can leave three tightly locked-down areas in Sydney’s southwest to carry out their jobs.
The list was updated and broadened late last night after chaos and confusion from affected workers and intense lobbying from business sectors fearing the impact on their activities.
People who are now exempt from the Covid rules requiring them to stay within their Fairfield, Liverpool or Canterbury Bankstown local government areas, even for work purposes, include staff of supermarkets, shops that sell predominantly food or drinks and other retail businesses currently allowed to stay open.
Administrative and support staff for “click and collect” services can also work, as can those who work in the courts and justice system, members of parliament and electorate office staff, Defence and national security staff, school and early childhood teachers, logistics and delivery workers and those involved in the supply of services such as electricity, gas, water and waste management.
Other roles deemed necessary for the continued running of essential functions in NSW are also included.
All workers living in the restricted local government areas are still required to get a Covid test carried out every three days.
SEE THE FULL LIST HERE
Staff of major businesses, including Woolworths, were last night told that if they lived in affected southwest Sydney areas they would still be able to attend work outside the region on Monday.
The updated authorised worker list was released after MPs in neighbouring council areas had already advised local business owners who lived in the locked down suburbs that they would not be able to leave to come to work.
Auburn MP Lynda Voltz said many owners of businesses in her electorate lived in the locked down local government area of Canterbury-Bankstown.
It was their understanding on Saturday that they would not be able to leave to come to work.
She criticised the government for the delay in releasing the details of who could leave the locked down zones.
“How are supermarkets in the know a couple of hours after press conference but at midnight, when orders are meant to be enforced, journalists and MPs are still in the dark,” she said.
“It is so frustrating when you have told shops they have to close down due to NSW government advice only to wake up Sunday morning to find out government has changed it’s mind.”
12 FINED FOR BREACHES IN NEWCASTLE
Authorities have pleaded with residents across NSW to follow critical lockdown laws after more than a dozen in Newcastle alone were slapped with fines for breaching health directions.
Assistant Commissioner Gary Worboys said the rule breaking was rampant across the state, with 43 separate area commands being forced to hand out infringement notices.
More than a dozen were also busted in central Sydney as the state recorded 105 new local infections.
“What it highlights is the fact that police right across the state continue to respond to Crime Stoppers reports and continue to be highly visible in those areas where they think people are stepping outside the public health orders,” the top cop told reporters on Sunday.
“They will issue the infringement notices to try and correct that behaviour.”
Mr Worboys focused his frustration on three removalists who travelled to the state’s central west from western Sydney allegedly aware they were infected with Covid-19.
“Those three gentlemen have been issued court attendance notices,” he said.
“What I want to highlight is the maximum penalty the court can impose is $11,000 and or six months in jail.
“We often talk about the $600 for a mask, $200 for a mask or $1000 for a personal infringement, but police found the behaviour from these three people to be particularly disturbing.
“Despite the best health advice, they continued on their journey.
“They left their home in Greater Sydney and put significant risk on the people in regional NSW.”
Deputy Premier John Barilaro echoed the fury, labelling the action of the removalists as “deliberate and reckless”.
“What these three men did was reckless knowing on advice that they should not be travelling into the region,” he said.
“The full arm of the law will come down hard, the justice system will come down hard, we have significant penalties in place for deliberate reckless actions like this and this could actually put in jeopardy not just a community like Orange but the central west.
“This is careless, reckless and deliberate and they will feel the full brunt of the law.”
Police Minister David Elliott said investigations were continuing into the three removalists.
“Those people expect to be put where they are subject to a six month prison sentence,” he said.
DUO GET DOPE OF THE DAY AWARD
Mr Elliott also hit out at the “small, noisy” minority of NSW residents who continue to flout the lockdown rules, including two people who told police they were playing soccer without a ball.
The pair, who visited a park in West Guilford, are among 240 people in the past 24 hours fined $1000 for breaching the lockdown rules.
Mr Elliott said the pair should be awarded the “Dope of the Day” award for their reckless behaviour, warning that the minority of rule-breakers were prolonging the lockdown.
“What we can plan for is a swift return to normal life … but we can’t do it while people continue to flout the laws and continue to break the health orders,” he said.
“The NSW Government and NSW Police are appealing to people: Stop thinking about and planning how you can get away with breaking the rules.”
Deputy NSW Police Commissioner Malcolm Lanyon, Metropolitan Field Operations, said police were ramping-up their high-visibility operation as tougher lockdown restrictions come into force.
“We will work very closely with the community to ensure compliance with the restrictions, and make sure that we restrict that movement across the community and slow down the spread of the virus,” he said.
He said police would be cracking down on people not carrying masks with them while outside, refusing to give their name and address when requested by police and travelling outside metro Sydney.
COVID RESTRICTIONS TIGHTEN
This morning Sydney woke up to even harsher restrictions and almost a million people are under tighter lockdown, as chaos and confusion over unclear health orders leave workers uneasy.
Construction sites will be shut down for the first time in the pandemic, non-critical retailers shuttered, and southwest Sydney workers confined to their council area under the sweeping new lockdown restrictions.
In Bankstown, within the tighter lockdown area, police said two people were arrested and eight others issued with Covid fines for refusing to leave an illegal Covid protest on Saturday.
As NSW recorded 111 new cases and a third death on Saturday, Premier Gladys Berejiklian told Fairfield, Liverpool and Canterbury-Bankstown residents they can no longer leave their LGA for work, unless they are emergency or healthcare workers, and must carry masks with them at all times.
Within hours of the restrictions being unveiled chaos erupted across Sydney as residents tried to work out what they were able to do under the new rules, and confused removalists, cab drivers and supermarket staff were left wondering if they still had a job.
It can be revealed that while the government was working out the finer details of the public health order, both Woolworths and Sydney Markets were lobbying the Premier and informed their staff living in the three locked-down council areas that they could come to work.
“Through liaison with the NSW Premier’s Office and NSW Health, Sydney Markets has successfully lobbied to achieve the following exemption for workers at Sydney Markets,” it said.
The new exemption now specifies that residents who perform “essential” work for the continued operation of food retailing, warehousing and distribution transportation would be allowed to leave the LGA’s for work.
NSW MPs were also inundated with questions from desperate small business owners who lived in the affected councils areas but whose businesses were located outside those boundaries.
“I’ve just told them they have to close,” one MP said.
Construction sites will also be forced to close across the lockdown area. From Monday only urgent repairs and emergency construction will be permitted until July 30.
Of the 111 new cases announced on Saturday, 29 were infectious in the community, a number Ms Berejiklian warned was too high.
“What we’ve seen during the last three weeks of the lockdown is that we’ve managed not to have the thousands of cases that would have resulted if we didn’t go into lockdown,” she said.
“It’s not good enough for us to tread water, which is what we’re doing now.
“We’ve to some extent stabilised it, but we’re not managing to quash that curve, to get that curve to come down.”
Fairfield Mayor Frank Carbone slammed the new LGA restrictions as “unfair”.
“The responsibility has now been put on southwestern Sydney residents, when the virus started with a person in the city and there are still people with the virus outside this area,” he said.
Teacher Francesa Pelle, 38, said: “I suppose I feel we are being treated a little bit unfairly when you compare us to Bondi.
“There are cases outside of Fairfield and Liverpool, but I also respect the decisions of the decision-makers because they are in a difficult position.”
After weeks of refusing to define essential shopping, Ms Berejiklian yesterday also announced “non-critical” retail must close from today.
The only retailers allowed to open include supermarkets, grocery stores, liquor stores, healthcare stores, pharmacies, petrol stations, car hire, banks, hardware stores and nurseries, pet supply stores, agricultural suppliers, post offices and office supply stores.
Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said workplaces that could not be shut down were one of the biggest spreaders of the virus.
From Wednesday, all employers who force staff to come into the workplace when they could work from home will face a $10,000 fine.
Fairfield West construction worker Sami Odeesho said he was happy to comply with the new restrictions to combat the Delta strain.
Mr Odeesho, who lives with his parents, said he would now be applying for the Covid disaster payments.
MORE HOME STAY FOR HOME AND AWAY
Sydney-based TV soap Home And Away has extended its mid-year production break due to the volatile Covid situation.
Producers told actors and crew of the decision on Saturday, as the NSW Government tightened lockdown restrictions due to the worrying spread of the Delta strain.
Cast and crew had already been on a planned two week shutdown break.
“With the ongoing COVID-19 related restrictions, Home And Away’s scheduled two-week production break has been extended as a precautionary response to the current pandemic,”
a Seven spokesman said. “The health and safety of all Seven West Media employees is paramount.
“Episodes are shot a month in advance, so the show will still air this week. The shutdown is not expected to impact the broadcast schedule.”
It is the second time in the show’s 33-year history that production has been shut down, the first being in 2020 due to the global pandemic. They were able to quickly get back up and running with strict safety protocols in place, including mask wearing, temperature checks on arrival, increased hygiene practices and rigorous cleaning schedules, all overseen by dedicated safety officers.
Emily Weir, who plays McKenzie Booth on the popular TV soap, had planned on flying to Queenstown in New Zealand for a holiday before the latest Covid outbreak.
Instead, like all Sydney-siders, her plans were scrapped when the lockdown kicked in.
“I joke that we are like the cockroaches in the apocalypse, with protocols and safety in place, we have still been able to shoot through, which has been really good,” Weir said.
“Now because we are on holidays, we have to get creative with activities indoors. We are happy and healthy and well though so I am grateful.”
Meanwhile, Home And Away actors Ditch Davey and Lynne McGranger last week supported The Daily Telegraph’s Call To Arms campaign to support Australians getting the Covid vaccine.
“Getting vaccinated was a high priority for us,” McGranger, who plays Lynne Roberts, said of her and partner Paul McWaters being vaccinated. “I was thoroughly convinced that the Astra Zeneca was extremely safe for Paul and I (both of us in our 60s) especially once I saw the figures. Of course we don’t want to get sick and end up on a ventilator or worse, but neither do we want to be responsible for spreading Covid. Also we are extremely keen to travel again – my best friend lives in the UK — and I’d love to be able to see her in the flesh again and hug her. We get our second jab in a month.”
Episodes are shot a month in advance, so the show will still air this week. The shutdown is not expected to impact the broadcast schedule.
TWO CHARGED OVER ILLEGAL COVID PROTEST
Two people have been charged and another eight were issued Penalty Infringement Notices (PINs) for breaching NSW’s Public Health Order after an unauthorised protest in Sydney’s southwest on Saturday afternoon.
Police said attendees were fined after they refused to leave the protest in Paul Keating Park, Bankstown about 4.20pm.
Six males – aged 29, 19, 55, 24, 17 and 35, and two women, aged 24 and 26 – were fined, while a 57-year-old man and a 36-year-old woman were arrested.
The 24-year-old man was also given a Future Court Attendance Notice for possessing a prohibited drug, and the 35-year-old man also received infringements for offensive behaviour and offensive language.
The arrested man and woman were taken to Bankstown Police Station, where the man was charged with failing to comply requirement public health order, not complying with aa direction given by police officer and custody of knife in public place.
He was refused bail to is due to appear at Parramatta Bail Court on Sunday.
The woman was charged with failing to comply requirement public health order and granted conditional bail.
She is due to appear at Bankstown Local Court on September 2.
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